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Cuccinelli, 43, a Republican who rode into office in 2009 on a wave of tea party support alongside now-Gov. Bob McDonnell, emerged as a leader in the legal fight against the legislation — first filing a lawsuit in his home state challenging the constitutionality of the bill and then hitting the road to offer his support to anti-health care bill lawsuits that sprouted up across the country.

Even though the Supreme Court determined the legislation is constitutional, the legal push against the law helped Cuccinelli, a former state senator, establish a national profile. In May, he traveled to the key presidential state of Iowa to deliver the keynote address at the state Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner.

Cuccinelli is broadening his attack on the Obama administration beyond health care. Recently appearing on Newsmax TV to describe a legal effort he was heading up against the Environmental Protection Agency, the Republican said: “I hope to fix it like a dog — snip — but that’s going to require a new president as well, so I hope the timing will work out well for that.”

Next up for the Virginia attorney general: a run for governor. With McDonnell term-limited in 2013, Cuccinelli has already launched a campaign for the state’s highest office, announcing in March that he would be running.

But he’ll have competition: Bill Bolling, the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, is also running and is expected to have McDonnell’s backing. Already, the primary pitting the two Republicans against each other is being called one of the hottest races of 2013.

Readers' Comments (1)

You forgot to mention "Gavin's meltdown," filmed by a local Channel 7 News crew in 2007, when Gavin Newsom felt compelled to admit to an affair with his campaign manager's wife, who was also his appointments secretary, Ruby Rippey-Tourck, in City Hall, on company time, and both he and Ruby Rippy-Tourck then went into rehab for alcohol addiction. There were also some controversial City payments to Ruby Rippey-Tourck at the time.

When Newsom tried to compete with Jerry Brown in the governor's race in 2010, polls demonstrated that he would win a majority in only one of San Francisco's 11 districts, after his seven years as the city's mayor. When he then chose to run for Lt. Governor, a position with little power compared to that of the San Francisco mayor, prominent San Francisco progressives endorsed him in hopes of getting him out of the mayor's office. They've probably lived to regret that, however, because, before leaving, Newsom struck a deal with outgoing Supervisors to leave City Administrator Ed Lee in the mayor's office, as caretaker mayor until the November 2011 election. Lee promised not to use appointed incumbency to seek the mayor's office, and promptly did, with the endorsements of San Francisco's plutocracy, including Gavin Newsom, former Mayor Willie Brown, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Dianne Feinstein. Lee is now accused of perjury before the San Francisco Ethics Commission, but neither Gavin Newsom nor any of the rest, appear to have commented publicly, as of 07.13.2012: Defense Counsel Requests Subpoenas in Sheriff Misconduct Case; Mayor Denies Perjury Allegations, Releases Statement.